Best physics textbook for basic university physics

MistahSee

Hello everyone

I was searching around and am interested in finding the best university physics textbook for a university level beginning physics course. We are using University Physics 12th edition by Young and Freedman but the explanations are somewhat lacking- the problems are more difficult and the examples too straightforward ( a bit of a discrepancy). I read a lot about Resnick Physics textbooks but obviously I have no 1st hand experience on what are good textbooks (probably ones from the 1960s or so?) Any recommendations would be very helpful.


Thanks
C

dx

the first and second editions of resknick's Physics

Howers

Good look finding that.

Any edition of Resnick and Halliday would do, but earlier are a little bit better because they are more rigorous.

MistahSee

What about the third edition- does that one vary greatly when compared with the first or second- the third is what i am able to get my hands on at the moment- I don't think that the explanations would be drastically different jumping from the second to the third edition.

Daverz

The third edition of Physics (not the watered down Fundamentals of Physics) is what I have (in two volumes), and it seems quite rigorous to me, with excellent problem sets.

Howers

Can you give some examples of where older editions are more rigorous?

MistahSee

For those of you who own a copy of the first edition resnick physics books published in 1960-1970s, could you please be kind enough to give me the ISBN numbers of the accompanying volumes please. I hear many great things about the book and am looking forward to purchasing them.

qspeechc

'Physics' by Alonso and Finn. I own a copy, from the 70's. Very good, but I don't know how it compares to Resnik

BioCore

Hey everyone,

Can someone tell me if this is a good First Year Intro Physics textbook?

"Physics For Scientists And Engineers By Knights (Pearson)"

I believe that my physics course this year will be using it, but I am unsure. But I just wanted to get your expressions on it, from what I have noticed and sampled it looks like a very good book with very good explanations and problems.

G01

We used Knight at my university. I don't think it is the best of books, but it is also not impossible to use. If you are looking for a calculus based introduction to physics, then you may be disappointed. Even though he says the book is calculus based, that pretty much means that every now and again an integral sign will appear in the chapter. There are very few calculus based problems in the text, especially in the mechanics section. In the E&M section, there are a few integrals to solve, but that is about it for calculus based problems.

Knight does explain some things well and he offers a good method for solving problems, but he gets way too wordy at times. For instance, he spends about 4 chapters covering Electric Fields and Potentials. This can usually be done in 1 to 2 chapters in other books. His section on waves and optics also leaves much to be desired. He focuses mostly on plug and chug type of problems in the wave section and most of the problems, in my opinion, just don't offer much insight into waves. On the other hand, the ray optics chapter is not too bad.


In the end, I would definitely take Haliday/Resnik over Knight any day. I'm not saying you won't be able to learn from Knight, but it is not the best book around, though more and more schools seem to be using it. Maybe I am in the minority with my view of Knight...

astrorob

Feynman lectures on physics.. It'll set you back a bit but there's no better..

BioCore

Yeah I have been reading her on the forums how good those Feynman Lectures are. I am though planning on probably expanding my current Physics knowledge a bit more before I give them a try.

astrorob

Well the Feynman lectures start from the beginning really, they encompass all of physics in a very clear cut manner.

xristy

Christoph Schiller's Motion Mountain is an interesting very comprehensive free general physics text. He includes introductions to quantum gravity, string theory and M-theory. Since the book is delivered as a PDF eBook he takes advantage to provide lots of linking between figures, challenge problems and solutions and the occasional multi-media aide.

belboz

I apologize if this question has been addressed in one or another threads, but: given that my basic university physics courses were a very long time ago; and that my elementary, single-variable calculus knowledge seems to have stuck around -- is there a consensus for a "real" caculus-based first- or second-year university physics textbook?

I am aware of classical mechanics texts such as those by Kleppner, or David Morin of Harvard. But of more general texts for basic mechanics and E&M, are there any which actually -use- calculus rather than, essentially, hint about its use?

I am aware of Physics by Alonso and Finn; but I don't know how suitable it may be for self-study. Of these books which I know are used at various universities:

Giancoli, Physics for Scientists and Engineers (version 3 or 4)

Ohanian and Markert, Physics for Engineers and Scientists (3rd edition)

Young and Freedman, University Physics with Modern Physics (11th or 12th edition)

Wolfson, Essentials of University Physics (2007 copyright)

is there a clear winner given the constraint of calculus-based development of the material, including development -- rather than simple statements -- of line and surface integrals for fields and EM waves?

Or, is there a "better" text or a preference for a book not listed above?

Thanks as usual for any suggestions ..

Wayne

Howers

Resnick and Halliday uses calculus exclusively.

mathwonk

I am a math guy, not a physicist. The frustration I found with standard books like resnick and halliday was they were insufficiently precise for someone like me used to careful definitions of terms and rigorous explanations.

apparently such books should include advice like: "some times the reader will need to add some unstated but reasonable assumptions to what is given, in order to make sense of and/or solve the problems". this creative way of thinking is perhaps second nature to physicists, but not to me.

for someone like me, the berkeley physics course seemed far more understandable, as did the lectures of feynman.

still i recommend trying the recommendations of others here who are more into physics, i.e. resnick and halliday, as apparently it is written the way physicists think.

my suggestions are just for someone for whom, like me, that book is unsuitable.